Ghost Buster Mars
by MarshmallowAtHeart
Summary: If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Veronica Mars, duh. Pre-series. Oneshot.


The petite twelve year old blonde clad in her soccer uniform ran toward the ball while the cheerleaders chirped their rhymes on the sidelines. "Go, Veronica!" Meg called out and held her pom poms up high as Veronica kicked the winning shot.

Out of breath, Veronica panted with her hands on her hips.

"Here ya go." Meg handed Veronica a bottle of water. The petite blonde smiled gratefully and gulped the water down.

Once she had quenched her thirst, she let out, "Thank you."

Meg smiled, happy to have helped her friend. "You're welcome."

"Sweet shot, Veronica," Corny praised and proceeded to high five her.

Veronica chuckled and then noticed something off about the boy. "Corny, you OK?" She watched him cautiously.

He nodded. "I stole one of my sisters brownies, it's totally making me feel weird."

"Oh no," Meg frowned with concern. "Do you want me to take you to the nurses office?"

"Nah," he brushed it off. "Kinda feels weirdly good. I only had a bit."

Veronica and Meg shared a look of concern and Meg reluctantly said, "If you say so."

"You want a piece?" He offered.

Meg shook her head with a quick no thank you.

"No, thanks, Corny, I'm dying for some Luigi's. Running really works up an appetite." Veronica rubbed her belly. She glanced over to the parking lot for her father, she hoped he would arrive soon or else she might just eat one of Corny's questionable brownies.

"Eew Veronica," Madision icked. "You have dirt all over your clothes." She frowned while she looked the petite blonde over.

Veronica stared at Madison and shrugged, "It was fun!"

"Dude," Dick patted Corny on his back. A wide smile on his face, he gushed, "Your sister makes thee best brownies. I could eat like a whole tray."

"I know right, man?" Corny brightened and the two boys giggled with each other.

Amused, Veronica and Meg giggled along with them. Madison huffed in annoyance and walked over to her best friend Shelly, at least she would pay attention to her.

Just then Veronica saw her dad's sheriff car pull over into the parking lot. She smiled, finally, she was starving.

She said her goodbyes and bounced off to the car. _Luigi's here I come._ Her stomach promptly chirped it's approval.

* * *

A satisfied smile lingered over Veronica's face as she leaned back in the passengers seat. She'd just ate her weight in manicotti and had ice cream to boot.

"Mom is having lunch with her friends so we're going to the Sheriff's department, okay? Or would you like to change your clothes?"

Veronica looked down at her clothes. It wasn't that dirty. She'd dusted off most of the grass. She looked over at her dad. "I'm good," she smiled.

Keith chuckled with a shake of his head.

* * *

Lamb glared at the petite blonde. She'd talked non-stop about her soccer team. He wasn't sure why she was suddenly so comfortable with him. Usually, she'd go over and bother Inga or Sacks.

He huffed and remarked, "Why don't you go see the wizard? Ask him to get you someone who cares."

Veronica was unaffected by his tone, she kicked her legs back and forth as she sat on the counter and loudly whispered, "Eh, Inga?"

"Yes, Veronica?" She smiled warmly at the girl.

"Deputy here thinks that The Wizard of Oz is real. Think he knows the truth about Santa, yet?" Veronica titled her head, looking as innocent as ever.

Lamb narrowed his eyes on her. "You're a brat." He took his files.

"Says the man still following yellow brinks," Veronica piped out. Lamb ignored her and started to go on his way. Veronica prodded, "Tell me, does the Easter Bunny visit too?"

Lamb glared daggers at her and Veronica was reminded of Madison Sinclair.

Inga tried to stifle her laughed behind the counter but the twelve year old Mexican boy had no problem letting out his chuckles. Veronica looked at him with curious eyes.

She hopped off the counter and sat beside him on the bench. He shifted away from her uncomfortably.

"So whatcha in for?" She quizzed. She'd seen him around a lot recently. Her father always gave him the disapproving shake off his head like he'd expected better.

He didn't look at her but he knew that she was watching him. He blew out a breath and remarked, "Non ya bees wax blondie."

Her eyebrows shot up and her lip curved. "Grade A come back, right there."

"Go figure," he rolled his eyes. "Nothings ever good enough for the likes of you."

She frowned, all amusement she'd previously held was lost. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Doesn't matter. You don't care 'bout what I have to say."

"I do!" She protested, deeply offended by his words.

"Yeah, right," he snorted.

Her frown deepened. "Well, I'm choosing to spend my time with you, aren't I?"

Finally, he looked at her and immediately felt guilty at the disheartened look on her face. It reminded him of his grandmother, she was the only person that could make him feel guilty. Until now. He frowned and pointed out, "'Cause you ain't got nothin' better to do."

"That is not true," she instantly denied. "I had a to-do list thank you very much."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "What number was befriend the boy in the sheriff's station?"

"Number five," she randomly picked out. "Spontaneous acts of the day."

Weevil chuckled, highly amused by the petite blonde.

* * *

Minutes later, her dad had ordered for Eli Navarro to be taken home and Veronica had gotten a phone call from a very frantic Lilly. "Veronica! I'm telling you, there's a ghost here!"

"Lilly, you're being ridiculous!" Veronica was a believer in many things but ghosts? Not so much.

"Oh yeah?" Lilly challenged. "When I die, you can tell that to my ghost!"

Veronica laughed heartily. "At least we know you'll ace drama."

"Har, Har, Har. Veronica, just get your dad here. With his gun!" The Kane heiress demanded.

Veronica's eyebrow quirked. "Pry tell, how will shooting a ghost be effective?"

"If he's shooting it, it won't be killing me," Lilly duh'd.

Veronica sighed. Lilly was just not letting this go. "Where is Duncan?"

"Duncan?" Lilly bellowed. "You expect Duncan to protect me from ghosts?!"

* * *

"Dad," Veronica called out as she entered his office.

He paused from his load of paper work and looked at his daughter, "Yes, sweetheart?"

Veronica looked at him with completely serious eyes and stated, "You have to leave your sheriff post for a while because Lilly is afraid of the ghosts in her house."

Keith blinked. He arched an eyebrow at her. She stared at him expectantly. He sighed and called out, "Sacks?"

The young deputy popped his head in and answered, "Yes, Sheriff?"

"Can you go with Veronica to the Kane mansion?"

"There's a disturbance from the astral world," Veronica chimed.

Sacks did a double take. "What?"

"It's probably a rat or something," Keith shrugged.

"R-rat?" Sacks eyes widened.

Veronica chuckled. "Are you afraid of rats?"

"N-no!" He objected. Keith looked on with amusement as Veronica continued to tease his newest recruitment.

* * *

In the car, Veronica wondered out loud, "So what are you afraid of more? Ghosts or rats?"

Sack's grip on the steering wheel tightened and he told her, "Ghosts aren't real."

She bit back her giggle and rightfully declared, "Just because you can't prove something yet doesn't mean it's not true."

Sacks shook his head, not willing to let Veronica to twist his ideals, again."That's exactly what it means!" He claimed.

She pursed her lips and pointed out, "The first people to travel the world thought it was flat."

He let out a breath and kept his eyes on the road. "You can't use that as an argument to disprove everything."

"Why not?" Her lips curved into a smile. "It's true."

* * *

"Oh my God, Veronica!" Lilly crushed her best friend in a tight hug. "Thank God you're here." She let a smile of relief take over her face. She then noticed the officer that accompanied her best friend. She looked back at Veronica and threw her hands up in the air, "Of all the officers, in all of the sheriff's department, you bring him!"

Sack's mouth opened, offended. "Hey!" He protested.

Lilly stared at him, feeling no sympathy. "The last time there was spider on the wall of the sheriff's office you yelled like someone was attacking you and sped out faster than that Gonzales mouse."

"Spiders are a rational fear," he protested. "They see everything with their beedy eyes."

"Uh huh," Lilly rolled her eyes. She turned to Veronica, a serious look on her face. "He would leave me for dead."

Veronica took pity on him. She knew that he was good at his job and would be capable of handling say a burglar but didn't particular enjoy being in the same space as many things, like every type of creepy crawly that's in existence of man, probably. "He did catch that man that was holding all those people hostage."

"Great," Lilly chirped. "Because this ghost is holding me hostage."

Sacks frowned at the girls. Were they serious about the ghost? And if so, did he look like the ghost busters? He did not sign up for this.

"So," Veronica took over. "Why do you think you're being haunted?"

Sacks arched an eyebrow, surprised at how much like her father she sounded.

"Doors banging from random corners. Windows shaking. Trees exaggerated rustling. And the roof! This is a mansion, how is anyone gonna get up on the roof, right?"

Sacks gulped. What if she was right? How was he going to defend them from ghosts?

Veronica frowned. "Where is Duncan?"

Lilly blew out a sound of frustration. "I told you, Duncan is worse than deputy here. And he left for soccer practice."

Veronica arched an eyebrow. "Duncan doesn't have soccer practice. It was the girls turn today."

Lilly's eyes brightened, "You think he's meeting with a girl? I never thought he'd actually have the conjures to sneak out to meet her."

Veronica shook her head, she hadn't meant to imply that Duncan had some sort of secret love revenuers. She couldn't blame Lilly for thinking so, it was totally out of character for Duncan to prank Lilly. But maybe he'd grown tired of all of her pranks on him? Someone must have definitely planted the idea in Duncan's head. And said someone must be helping him. But who?

Duncan wasn't exactly close to anyone at school. He was friendly and polite. But he was shy. She knew the feeling all too well, she'd been that way before she'd met Lilly. Maybe Duncan needed a friend like Lilly. Lilly had somehow made her more confident. She knew that Lilly could do the same for Duncan but because he was her brother, she seemed more inclined to tease him relentlessly than to help break him out of his shell.

 _Thump. Thump. Thump._

At the sound of the roof threatening to fall upon them the three jumped with wide eyes.

No, Veronica, it's not a ghost. Just Duncan and maybe Dick? But Dick didn't like Duncan. Maybe it was the younger brother? Cassidy. Or Beaver as Dick liked to call him. But Cassidy was just as bad as Duncan in the shyness department. Veronica thought that they'd get on swimmingly. They could bond over how their older siblings loved to embarrass them.

* * *

Duncan giggled while he jumped on the roof with his new best friend. He'd met Logan two days ago when he'd been moving in. Instantly, they'd hit it off and became best friends. It was the first time, since Veronica, that he'd felt so comfortable talking to someone.

Once they started talking, Duncan felt free to confess anything to Logan. He knew that it wasn't him that suddenly developed a new found confidence but Logan had this charismatic presence.

Duncan had told Logan all about Lilly and Veronica and how Lilly continuously tried to pull one over him. That's when Logan came up with the idea of scaring Lilly came into play. Logan had told him to not tell either girls about him as yet or else they might figure it out.

* * *

They weren't sure how but somehow getting up to the roof was much easier than coming down from it.

Because right now? Logan and Duncan were stuck in the tree that had helped them get up there in the first place.

Logan held onto the brunch, Duncan's face merely inches away from his. He moved his head and remarked, "Well, this is sufficiently awkward."

Duncan's eyes were wide as he clung to the brunch, praying to Gods that he never prayed to before to save him.

"Just jump, Duncan," Logan told his frantic new best friend.

Duncan's eyes widened even more and Logan was sure that they might just pop out. "Are you crazy?" Duncan breathed out heavily.

Logan sighed and assured his friend, "I'll jump with you."

Duncan shook his head and gulped. "I'm not Ryan Gosling, there will be no 'if you jump, I jump' nonsense."

Logan blinked and arched an eyebrow. "Dude, you're quoting the Notebook?"

"Well, you recognized it," he defended.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Just jump, Duncan."

Duncan started to sweat and Logan tried to get as far away from his as possible, which wasn't much.

"No!" Duncan refused.

"What are you gonna do when you need to go to the toilet?" Logan quizzed. "I doubt your mom's daffodils will appreciate your excretion as fertilizers."

Duncan looked at him with scared eyes and refused to budge. Suddenly, Logan realized why Lilly tormented him so much.

He knew that Duncan was a good guy though, when he met him, Duncan genuinely seemed to like talking to him. _Him_. As a person. Not as Aaron Echolls and Lynn Echolls son. There weren't many people like that in the world.

Duncan might have his weak points but Logan believed that his strong points far out weighed the weak.

So yeah, Logan decided, he'd be there when Lilly decided to prank Duncan again. And he'd be there when Veronica beat Duncan in soccer. And he'd be there to have Duncan's back.

He was sure that Duncan would have his when he needed it.

* * *

Sacks reluctantly allowed Veronica to take him to the backyard and Lilly decided that she'd be safer with Veronica and the man with the gun than inside alone.

Lilly swallowed and whispered, "Don't you watch scary movies, Veronica? Death awaits outside."

Veronica's eyes widened at the sight before her. "Lilly..."

"Yeah?" Lilly whispered.

"Firstly, I found our ghosts. Secondly, your brother and his friend cuddling in a tree..."

Lilly gawked at the scene and let out, "Oh. My. God."

Sacks breathed out in relief. He quickly went over to help the boys get down.

* * *

When Veronica explained her thoughts on the ghost theory, Sacks frowned and asked, "What about the whole 'world isn't flat thing?'"

Veronica smiled and simply shrugged, "That's the world, Sacks. Ghosts are a whole other story."

Sacks sighed heavily, he jumped up startled when his phone started to ring. Veronica bit back a laugh but he caught it and just shook his head as he answered his call.

Logan looked over the petite blonde with interest, she figured it out. A smile curved on his lips. Being friends with Duncan Kane already had it's benefits.

Because Veronica Mars? She was smart and she was hot. His eyes lingered over her uniform and he'd decided if that's what he got to see, he needed to start watching soccer. Well, Veronica's soccer team, at least. She was totally rocking those knee socks.

Lilly's eyes narrowed on the boys, she pursed her lips and demanded, "Who are you?"

His attention drew onto Duncan's sister and he smirked. "Logan Echolls."

"My new best friend," Duncan chimed in.

Logan grinned. And Lilly twitched. "Are you trying to brag, _Donut_?"

He smiled and shrugged, "I'm just saying."

Lilly huffed and firmly declared, "No one's better than my best friend, Veronica Mars."

Veronica smiled bashfully and Logan's attention peeked. It was strange. She spoke as though she was confident and yet she shied away at being complimented.

Logan's lip quirked and he quipped, "The white knight that saved you from the ghosts?"

Lilly glared at him, clearly she disliked being painted as helpless. "Are you calling me a damsel in distress?"

Veronica chuckled good-naturedly. "Don't worry Lil, I'll always be your hero."

Logan watched them curiously, he'd basically implied the same thing and Lilly looked like she wanted to claw his eyes out. But she responded to her friend with a genuine smile.

Veronica offered Logan a smile and he realized that _that_ was Veronica's mild mannered way of diffusing the bomb that it was Lilly Kane.

"You must be the ghost buster," Logan smiled warmly at Veronica. It was weird, he couldn't help but smile at her.

Her cheeks flushed but she refused to shy away from him. She straightened her posture and remarked, "And you must be Casper the _overly_ friendly ghost."

He chuckled sheepishly. "I usually go by the name Logan."

She licked her lips. She wished she'd told her father to take them home first. "People call me, Veronica," she chirped. "I'm not sure what the protocol is for celestial beings."

He laughed, he'd never felt like he'd fit in anywhere before and now, he'd just met these people but it was like all the puzzle pieces coming together.

Once Lilly had stopped berating Duncan for almost killing her, she noticed how close Logan had gotten to her best friend. She frowned and loudly announced, "Urg. Get your boy toy away from my bestie."

Duncan spluttered and argued, "He's not! I just said he's my best friend."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Uh huh, if you say so."

"I say so!" Duncan insisted.

"Whatever," Lilly huffed in annoyance.

Veronica laughed at the duo and before Lilly actually resorted to physical blows, she interjected, "Lilly Kane, I expect to be paid in full for my keen detecting skills. I accept payment in the sum of food."

Lilly cocked her head and smirked, "Sure, Nancy Drew. It's Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum's treat. They caused this goose chase."

"I didn't expect you to call Veronica!" Duncan argued.

Lilly gaped at him as if he was absurd. "If I'm about to die, I'm definitely going to wanna talk to my best friend."

Duncan pouted and complained, "How come you didn't call me?"

Lilly's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're the one that was trying to scare me to death in the first place!"

"But you didn't know that!" He argued.

Logan tore his eyes away from the Kane siblings and settled on the petite blonde, "So, know any good places to eat?" Logan asked.

Veronica beamed. And Logan instinctively smiled back. The petite blonde twirled her hair and tilted her head to look at him and remarked, "You betcha. And if you're a good little ghost, I'll show you the best ice cream place in town."

Logan chuckled, he didn't know how he was so easily taken in by this girl before him but he knew he liked it.

* * *

 **A.N This started out as a different take on how Veronica met Logan for the first time but it was so easy to incorporate a little bit of the other characters that I couldn't resist.**

 **Hope you liked it though!**


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